Intel Stock sinks in report Microsoft may create own chips for Azure servers

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Shares of chip makers

Intel

and Advanced Micro Devices received a hit late Friday in a report that

Microsoft

is working on developing its own microprocessors for the servers used in the Azure cloud service and possibly for surface personal computers.

Bloomberg reports that Microsoft is using designs based on Arm technology to build a processor that will be used in its data centers and that the company is also considering building another chip for Surface devices. Arm is owned by SoftBank (SFTBY), which has agreed to sell the business to

Nvidia

(NVDA).

History notes that the movement follows a similar effort of

Amazon.com

(AMZN) and other companies with large server farms.

apple

(AAPL) recently announced the first MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops with internally designed processors based on Arm technology.

“Because silicon is a staple of technology, we continue to invest in our own capabilities in areas such as design, manufacturing and tools, while fostering and strengthening partnerships with a wide range of chip suppliers,” he said. say Microsoft spokesman Frank Shaw. in a statement.

Neither Intel nor AMD responded immediately to a request for comment.

Patrick Moorhead, an analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, noted that there is “heated competition” in the cloud infrastructure market, adding that he would not be surprised by a step by Microsoft to catch up with Amazon Web Services. “Silicon is strategic, it’s not a commodity, and the industry had finally woken up with that,” he added.

Intel on Friday fell 6.3% to $ 47.46, while advanced micro-devices fell 1% to $ 95.952, after trading at just $ 93.56 . Shares of Microsoft fell 0.4% to $ 218.59.

Write to Eric J. Savitz to [email protected]